The Tardis was usually a beautiful creature itself: a box on the outside, yet inside, the environment was nothing like any other. At the heart, it pulsated a warm and glowing light, communicating with her owner through gestures and mannerisms that only he would understand. She and her owner had a bond that was inseparable. Calling the Tardis a spaceship was rather beneath the ol’ gal. She was much, much more than just a space ship. It did seem, however, that she had seen better days. It was nothing of neglect; only a result of combat and dismay. Who didn’t hate on the Tardis and her beloved? It seemed every creature on each planet would plot and kill the two at some point down the road. All he could do was run. Run, run, run. Was he ever tired of running? Yes, quite, and doing it all alone didn’t make anything better. His memory was filled of fuzziness as his current state was relatively new. He just...couldn’t remember. Normally after his regenerations, he could recall something..yet nothing came through.

The man crouched over a panel on the floorboard with half of his body deep into the depths of wires and pipes. “You took a good beating, eh, ol’ girl?” The man stated prior to the sound of buzzing, “Sorry I wasn’t able to stop your crashing. I wasn’t myself..or was I? Or at least I wasn’t my current self. Then again, the self before my current seems rather vague…” He couldn’t put a finger on why this generation was different than the past. What could be the reasoning? It baffled him. The man sighed softly as sparks flared and the buzzing of his screwdriver died. No good. The man sat back on the floor and pressed his back against the base of the control panel. “Well, looks like we’ll be here for a bit then,” the man stated somberly, “I must find myself something to do other than sit here and wait. Waiting never solves anything and you need to rest yourself up there.” The man patted the control console gently before pressing a few buttons to view on a computer screen. Where was he? Oh right, Earth. Such a peculiar place.

“Cardiff… Well isn't that slightly disappointing..I was craving sushi. I guess I’ll settle for some chips or curry...or curry chips. That sounds delightful,” the man spoke out quite volumesque to none other but himself. He was used to being alone, well, not all the time but some of the time. He couldn’t really recall his last companion.. Maybe it was Cass or Grace? Those names stuck out but he couldn’t recall. Oh well. The man grabbed his leather jacket off the floor and had it hug his tall figure with a purple shirt beneath. He appeared quite casual and most definitely - he thought - he could blend in with the natives. The only peculiar character upon his body were his ears. Something about those ears..

With the screwdriver in pocket, the man made his way towards the exit and punched in a few buttons on the side panel, “I’ll let you sleep. This area seems to be generating a lot of energy that should repair your damages. I assume a few days, more or less until you are back in tip top shape." Once outside the ship, the Tardis barely took up any space what so ever for, on the outside, it seemed to take on such an odd appearance - a blue police box. He probably should have rethought the model for, as he stood looking around, there was nothing but an alley and a few trash cans. After locking the door on his box with his key, he pressed a button on his screwdriver and instantly rendered the box invisible. He only hoped that he remembered where it was located later on. The tall lanky fellow smiled softly and made his way out into the public. What to do? What to do? The thought of chips did sound quite appealing so, off he went. The man scanned the streets of the dreary Cardiff and slowly removed a bit of the smile from his face.

“Who on Earth would want to live here? Then again Earthlings I assume,” he mumbled to himself as he began searching for a chip place. As he came to one local little chip shop that seemed it had been there for ages, he stopped a random boy passing by, “Excuse me, young man, would you recommend this restaurant for their chips?” The boy, no older than eleven, stopped with a slightly alarmed look upon his face and gave the man a once over. “...No, rather, I say the chips near the big school building are better than ‘ere,” the young boy stated as he removed his arm from his grasp with an exaggerated pull, “Here they are much too soggy and their catsup tastes weird..” The Doctor nodded with a smile. “Ah, thank you,” he said as he patted the boy on his head but, just before he could move on, the boy snagged his jacket to prevent him from moving. He met eyes once more with the young boy who, now, was holding out his hand.

“That’ll be three pounds, sir,” the lad stated. “Pounds? Pounds of what?” the Doctor stood with a baffled look on his face. “Money, sir. You asked for a recommendation of a restaurant, therefore, you should give a tip,” the boy glared at the large man before him, pushing his hand out further. The boy didn’t look extremely poor, but he assumed the alien was a tourist. “I’m afraid I have none,” the man stated as he dug into his pockets. The boy rolled his green eyes and dropped his hand with a scoff, “How do you think you’re going to afford some chips then wit’o money? Do you not have a job?” The Doctor, again, stood there with a confused expression on his face. “Job? Well I - er - no, I don’t believe I do,” the man scratched the back of his head as he tried to think of what a job was.

“You’re a weird one, you 'ere. Mum says I should stay away from people like you,” the boy said before he turned around and walked off, shaking his head. Job? What the heck was a job? The Doctor stood there for a minute before taking his direction towards the “big school building” that the boy spoke of. "And they say I'm the weird one.." the man mumbled. He, again, had to stop a few times asking people where exactly was the large school building. “Excuse me, miss?” the Doctor eventually stopped a woman, exiting a flower shop, that appeared dressed like a school teacher. Maybe he would get lucky... “Am I in the direction of the university?” The man learned the name for it half way through his conversations amongst the common folk. “Why yes,” the woman stated as she adjusted the flowers in her arms. Eureka! She was a very simple, yet pretty thing - very easy on the eyes. She smiled with her red painted lips and offered her hand towards the man, “I’m one of the principles, Ms. Glasslow. Are you here for the job interview?”

The Doctor grinned and took her hand. “Yes, I need a job.” The woman laughed softly and went back to embracing the flowers in her arms. “Please do accompany me to the campus. I can introduce you to the rest of our staff. I do hope you have all your papers with you,” the woman stated as she and the Doctor began walking in the direction of the university. The Doctor snuck a hand to his inner coat pocket and took hold of a small black book. In a matter of seconds, that book changed appearances and he pulled out a folded short stack of papers. “Of course I do. Come prepared, I always say. That and bananas are a great source of Potassium.” he said with a chuckle. “Yes you are correct and that is just splendid! Our physics professor had some sort of family emergency and had to leave without much of a notice. Quite bothersome, I must say, but what can you do?” the woman continued seemingly to have slight difficulty walking. The Doctor noticed her stumbling struggle yet made no effort to comment. Maybe the people from Earth walked awkwardly?

“Excuse me one moment, professor,” the woman stated and handed him the flowers, “Could you hold these for a moment?" The tall took a good whiff of the assortment, "Oh, these are lovely." The woman faintly smiled but then proceeded in taking off her red heels and switched them out with a pair of flats in her large Prada handbag. “"These shoes are quite painful...Oh, that’s much better,” she commented and then took the flowers back from the man, “These shoes are much more comfortable than those.” What an odd thing to say, the man thought. “Then why do you wear them if they hurt your feet so?” The Doctor asked, “Why would you waste your time working towards something that will evidently not cause you pleasure and only cause you pain? Appearances may not need to be everything. As lovely as they are, as are these flowers, the purpose of them is rather fruitless.” Ms. Glasslow remained mute for a moment, processing the words the man stated and counted most of the shoes she had in her closet that she couldn’t walk in. She only purchased them due to them being on sale and them being quite cute. “Well said, professor,” she finally agreed and looked up to him as she lost a few inches after removing her heels, “May I be bold to ask if you had dinner plans?”

“I would say no as I didn’t believe you needed plans to eat dinner. In most countries the instructions are simple as to using the utensils they provide,” the man said with a smile. The woman laughed softly and tapped the man on the shoulder in an affectionate manner, “Oh, my goodness, a sense of humor as well.” The smile faded as she laughed for he wasn’t really at all being funny. He was speaking the truth. What else did you need to eat dinner? Definitely, the man was quite confused. “Here we are,” the woman stated as they arrived at the large wrought iron university gates, “We have several departments and beyond the school there are dorms for the students to live in that is included in their tuition. We are one of the most affordable schools in Cardiff..if not one of the only schools, but, we strive to exceed our last year goals.”

“My it is a sight,” the man stated as they walked through the gates, yet, paused at a statue of the founder, “Don’t you suppose that statue is incorrect?" The Doctor pointed towards the statue of the Cardiff University founder, "Lord Aberdare collected his committee, however, it was the Viscount that actually pushed for the establishment to exist in 1883.” The woman stopped in her tracks, staring towards the Doctor with, now, a bewildered expression on her face, “Well now, you are well educated in the history of the university, aren’t you?” The Doctor laughed a little and shrugged, “Not really. Ed just told me over a game of cards.” The man then decided to wander off and explore the university a tad bit more, leaving the woman to trail after him in a slow pace. “Cards...right,” she mumbled to herself as she began to question his state of mind, slightly.

As the pair neared the entrance of the university, the Doctor pardoned himself for a moment outside to look at the landscape. He stood outside against a wall, narrowing his blue eyes as he scanned the vicinity. Something felt...off. As if he was followed or something of the sort. He hadn’t picked up a trace of another race for a minute, yet, could it be possible someone else was living on this planet besides those of Earth? Fantastic.. The Doctor frowned and continued after Ms. Glasslow into the hall entrance, making his way towards the principal's office.

Everything stretched out before her was just beyond her reach, ever so slightly. As much as Rose tried to extend her fingers, nothing could be felt. She was floating in the middle of outer space in a glittering nebula where stars watched her circle an unknown teal colored planet. She was caught in its gravitational pull and yet somehow she felt safe, if not somewhat restless. Her voice could reach no one, her hands reached nothing. And yet, the blond woman felt at home, felt calm. Her eyes closed but then suddenly snapped open as the beep beep beep of her alarm snapped her out of orbit. A hand flailed outward from its warm cocoon. She swiped on her phone and the jarring alarm was soon silenced. Pushing herself up, Rose Tyler found herself back on planet Earth, no longer in the middle of some unknown but alluring abyss.

Pushing the covers off of her, she sat up and looked out the window to her right. Already she saw fellow students hurrying to class or to the gym. Everyone had somewhere to be it seemed. The warm spring day beckoned and Rose knew she had her own places calling her name. She slipped out of her pajamas and into a pair of light blue jeans and a Union Jack tee shirt Mickey had given her for Christmas. She brushed out her long hay colored hair and stepped out of her dorm room into the living room which she shared with two other girls. Had Rose not decided to go to university, she would still be living at home back in London with her mum, probably still working at a local clothing shop. But Rose had gotten tired of a dull existence and dragged her 'sort of' boyfriend Mickey back to school, him doing a bit of kicking and screaming along the way.

But Rose was glad to be back in school, even if she wouldn't admit it to anyone.

She was able to take gymnastics for a class and get credit doing she loved. She was also taking a Shakespeare class that focused on the romantic tragedies and a course on the American Civil War, along with a Physics class. The physics class was not of her choosing but one she had to take because the university required it for her to graduate. It was a load of rubbish but she hunkered down and did her best. Mickey decided to sign up and help Rose struggle but so far all he had done was flirt with all the girls in the lecture hall. Her cell phone rang before she could get too far down the steps leading down to one of the many courtyards in the Cardiff campus. "Yeah? Mum, morning morning. I just got up, about to grab some breakfast." She paused as her mother began to complain about the person who was renting the room which used to belong to Rose. "I-I dunno...what do you want me to do? I have class this afternoon."

"I'll pop over tonight or something. I'll try." She offered her mother, finding it far too early the morning to be dealing with this kind of nonsense. "I gotta go, gotta meet Mickey for breakfast. I love ya, bye." Rose hung up and shoved her phone back in the back pocket of her jeans and head off to the school's cafeteria where she and Mickey met most mornings to go over homework and study together, but mostly they just chatted and people watched, laughing at other people and hoping no one noticed. It was nine in the morning which meant most folks were in their morning classes which allowed Rose to easily spot her friend in the thin crowd of hungry young adults. He waved her over and she skipped over to him. "You look cheery." He commented as he pushed a cup of tea towards the blond girl. "I dunno, today just feels...good." She beamed at him and sat down.

Taking a sip of the tea, she made a face. "Eww, too much sugar." She scrunched up her face and grabbed for one of the small cherry filled pastries he ha gotten for breakfast. "We've known each other forever but you still don't know how to make my tea." She teased him as she went for another flaky treat but found her hand playfully slapped by Mickey. "Oy, if you're not nice to me, you don't get any!" He protested. Rose let out a fake huff and sat back, her arms tightly folding over her chest as they stared at each other. After only ten seconds of pretend-awkward silence, they burst into laughter. He gestured for Rose to help herself and she happily did so. "I've got gymnastics in a bit but save me a spot in Physics if I'm a little late, I want to try an' shower before class." She said as she grabbed her phone and checked the time.

Mickey gave Rose a hug before watching her leave.

Like Rose, he lived on campus but on the other side. The blond haired girl headed back to her dorm and grabbed her change of clothes and hurried back to the gym where her class took place. It was only a few weeks into the new semester but already she had made a few friends who were also passionate about gymnastics. In terms of her future, she didn't necessarily see herself doing gymnastics at the professional level. That would just be work in her mind, no fun there. She wasn't sure if she wanted to teach or get into something more technical with computers or programming. Mickey said coding and engineering were gonna be big in a few years but that didn't interest her much either. But it was a question that continued to pop up in the forefront of her mind every now and then:

What did she want to do with life?

It seemed as though everyone else around her knew that they were going to do. It almost felt like she was struggling to tread water and not drown. Still, all Rose could do was take it one day at a time. One dream at a time. One breath at a time. She changed into her tight fitting leotard which was bright pink and went to stretch a few of her mates. They chatted about how the weekend had gone, what movies they saw, or how many pubs they had crawled through. Rose was talkative as usual, chiming in with how she and Mickey caught the Chelsea match when they were supposed to be studying. In her defense, Mickey had practically dragged her to the pub. Once the two-hour gymnastics class wrapped up, Rose saw she had ten minutes before physics. She said bye to everyone and dashed back to her dorm and hurried up the steps.

One of her roommates was back, laying on the couching snogging her latest boy-toy with The Killers on in the background. Rose was quick to move past them as she ducked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She was quick to wash off and sneak into her single room and get changed back into her previous clothes, her Union Jack shirt and jeans. She didn't have time to dry her hair so she just braided it quickly as she walked to class, letting it rest against her upper back. Rose's phone buzzed as she neared the science department. She pulled it out, assuming it was Mickey to give her a heads up on what was happening in class which was starting in less than a minute.

As it turned out, Mickey said there was a notice on the chalkboard from the school which said their teacher had to leave for a family emergency and as such, they had found a replacement for the time being and that they may be a little tardy and to not leave class. Rose let out a sigh of relief, knowing she had a few minutes to catch her breath. She wandered over to one of the snack machines and put in a few coins and soon a pack of crisps fell down and she reached in to retrieve them. It was around lunchtime and it would have to do. She popped them open and pulled out a single salted crisp and took a bite. "Mmm that hits the spot." She dug a few more out, suddenly feeling rather hungry.

Once she finished the bag, she felt a sudden guilt pang within her heart. Perhaps she should have saved some for Mickey? Rose rubbed her neck and turned back to face the vending machine and and bought another bag, hoping to ease some of the guilt that had momentarily plagued her. She headed back towards the science building but out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a lost looking bloke with a leather jacket. She checked the time and paused. She was already late for class but according to Mickey, so was their mysterious substitute so if she helped the guy, she probably wouldn't be in too much trouble. How long could it take to point some lost looking guy towards the Student Services building?

"Oy!" She called out to the man and jogged over to him, her pink and teal sneakers scuffing against the soft pavement that had been kissed by a light rain last Friday afternoon. She came up to him and looked at him up and down. He looked quite young to be someone's father but still, she wouldn't rule anything out yet. Rose glanced around, not many were rambling around as they were probably at the cafeteria eating or eating off-campus to save some money or something. "You lost? Well, you look lost." She gave a slightly shrug and small smile. She glanced down to the pack of crisps in her hand and then to the tall man who seemed to be eyeing them. Maybe he was just broke and homeless?

No...he would have reeked if he had just come from behind a petrol station.

Rose held out the bag of salted crisps. "Here, you can have these. You look like you don't eat much." She offered to him. She shuffled through her small backpack where she kept her useless books and papers. She finally found what she had been looking for. A banana. "You can have this too, I was savin' it for class but I reckon you need it more than I do." She laughed softly as she zipped her backpack back up and slipped it back over her other shoulder. "So...you never told me your name. Oh well neither did I." She realized. "I'm Rose, Rose Tyler. What building were you looking for? It's not a massive campus but most buildings look the same so getting lost does happen, even more so after a few beers; my mate Mickey once tried stumbling into the girls dorm, that did not end well for him." She joked lightly.